1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a positioning unit of a carpet kicker, and more particularly to a carpet kicker that can protect the kicker from being inclined in laying a carpet, such that the carpet can be pulled, spread and fixed smoothly on the floor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Carpets are commonly laid on the floor of our home or office and give us an indoor warm and comfortable feeling. However, carpets must be laid evenly and smoothly on the floor, or else the carpets will be uneven, not only affecting its appearance, but also creating a problem of stumbling people easily.
If a large carpet is laid, a user usually cannot pull and spread the thick and heavy carpet smoothly by hands, and thus a carpet kicker is needed for the job.
Referring to FIG. 1, a prior art carpet kicker 70 is used to hold a free end of a carpet 62 to push it towards a pin board 60 at a wall, and the carpet kicker 70 includes a rectangular main body 71, a kicking unit 72 installed at a front end of the main body 71, a plurality of protruding pins 73 disposed at the bottom surface of the kicking unit 72 for hooking and pulling the carpet 62. The height of the protruding pin 73 can be controlled by a knob 74. The main body 11 includes a cushion 75 disposed at an end of the main body 11, and carpet kickers of this sort are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,023.
When the carpet kicker 70 is in use, a user presses the main body 71 by hands, and pushes the cushion 75 in the arrowed direction by knees, such that the kicking unit 72 holds and moves the carpet 62 gradually towards a pin board 60 on a wall, and finally hooks an edge of the carpet 62 to a hook pin 61 of the pin board 60 to spread and fix the carpet 62. However, such method is time-consuming and laborious, and using knees to push the cushion 75 for a long time will become an issue of professional safety.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 for another prior art carpet kicker 80, the carpet kicker 80 comprises an air pressure input end 81 connected to an air compressor 90 for providing air pressure to a housing 83 through a handle 82. The housing 83 includes a piston (not shown in the figure) for controlling a piston rod 85 to move forward and backward axially, and an external end of the piston rod 85 is connected to a hooking rod 86, and the bottom of the hooking rod 86 includes a hook 861. Further, a kicking unit 84 is installed at the bottom of a front end of the housing 83. Although the carpet kicker 80 intends to pull the carpet 62 pneumatically, its application still has the following problems:
1. Since the piston is driven pneumatically to move the piston rod 85, therefore an external air compressor 90 is needed to supply air pressure which is inconvenient to users. In other words, users have to carry a heavy and expensive air compressor 90 for the use of the carpet kicker 80, and it thus makes the application impractical.
2. Since the interval D between a pin board 60 for fixing the carpet 62 and a skirting board 64 at the wall is only 5 mm˜10 mm, and the design does not allow the hook 861 to be installed within the interval D, and it often makes the carpet kicker 80 useless. If the interval D of the pin board 60 is increased to allow the installation of the hook 861, the carpet will produce creases easily and affect the appearance of the carpet adversely.
3. More importantly, the carpet kicker 80 uses the hooking rod 86 to hook a fixed end of the pin board 60, and then the piston board 85 is moved back and forth to pull components such as the housing 83, handle 82 and kicking unit 84 indicated by dotted lines in the figure to move towards the wall synchronously. Furthermore, the method of using the protruding pin 841 to drive and pull the carpet 62 towards the pin board 60 is not too practical, because all of the actions for hooking and pulling the carpet 62 are centralized at the hook 861, and the pin board 60 is lifted by the hook 861 when the carpet 62 has not been pulled evenly yet. Therefore, such method of pulling the carpet still has its inevitable drawbacks and requires further improvements.
4. The front end 621 has to be lifted in direction of the phantom line for at least 50-100 mm for the hooking and positioning purpose when the kicking unit 84 pulls the carpet 62 in direction of the top of the pin board 60 for positioning the hook pin 61 of the pin board 60 in place. The redundant front end 621 of the carpet 62 will be cut off after the carpet leans against the wall corner. However, the conventional hooking rod 86 will hinder a smooth and natural upward lifting action, thereby affecting the further positioning work. As a result, it is not easy to flatten the carpet 62 for a nice appearance.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,898, a carpet kicker disclosed by the inventor of the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The carpet kicker mainly includes a housing 100, and a motive power device 110. The motive power device 110 is installed within the housing 100 for driving a gear rack 120 and a kicking unit 130 in displacement. Moreover, a positioning device 200 consisting of a connecting board 210, a L-shaped board 220, and a braking element 230 is disposed at a rear end of the housing 100. However, this structure is not optimal in use. For example, the L-shaped board 220 is easily deformed due to the insufficient strength thereof. Besides, it is impractical in operation when the horizontal short side 221 at the bottom thereof is hooked at the bottom rim of the skirting board 64. Furthermore, the vertical short side 222 of the L-shaped board 220 does not lean against the wall, thereby creating an instable state or bringing it into an inclined position due to the action of the whole machine to concentrate at the position of the horizontal short side 221. Meanwhile, the skirting board 64 is easily lifted. In addition, the above-mentioned drawbacks is present when the front end 621 of the carpet 62 is lifted, that is, the carpet 62 is jammed due to the insufficient space for the lifting action.